THE GREAT TRIBAL OUTREACH

THE PESA ACT EMPOWERS THE GRAM SABHAS ON ISSUES OF MINOR FOREST PRODUCE COLLECTION AND DISPUTE-RESOLUTION IN MINING AND EXCISE

- Rahul Noronha

It’s not for nothing that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh is on a massive tribal outreach—the assembly election is just a year away. And, with a 21 per cent tribal population as per the 2011 census, MP has the highest number of people from Adivasi communities among all states. However, in 2018, the BJP had won only 16 of the 47 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribes (ST) whereas the Congress had bagged 30 and one seat had gone to an Independent. Even as the number of seats with the Congress has reduced owing to a couple of defeats in by-elections, the party still holds a majority of them in the 230-member assembly. The criticality of the tribal vote to electoral victory can be gauged from the fact that in 2013, when the BJP won in the state, the party had bagged 31 of these 47 seats.